AUSTIN, Texas — A little after noon Friday, Warriors forward Kevin Durant handed his iPhone to his business partner and close friend, Rich Kleiman.
“Can you take a picture of me by myself, so I can show my friends?” Durant said as he leaned against a wall with big, gold letters: “THE KEVIN DURANT TEXAS BASKETBALL CENTER.”
It was a lasting reminder of the bond that ties Durant, 29, to the school for which he played one memorable season more than a decade ago. In the one-and-done era, when prized NBA prospects often view a year of college as a perfunctory requirement, Durant sees his time at the University of Texas as a foundational part of his identity.